Press releases

MINSK, 18 December (BelTA) – Arina Sobolenko and Yegor Gerasimov have been named Belarus’ Tennis Players of the Year 2017, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Tennis Federation.

Arina Sobolenko had a great year reaching the Fed Cup final with her Belarusian national team. The 19-year-old made her first-ever WTA final. The Belarusian gave a great accounting of herself against Maria Sharapova, building a 4-1 first set and 5-1 second set lead before eventually falling, 7-5, 7-6(8) in the Tianjin Open. Arina Sobolenko's efforts propelled her into the 73^rd position in the WTA.

Yegor Gerasimov, who turned 25, also achieved great results this year. The Belarusian jumped up to the 149^th place in the ATP rankings after claiming four victories in the ATP Challenger Tour. Together with his teammates Yegor Gerasimov reached the playoff to get the right to play in the Davis Cup World Group.

Awards were also presented in eight more nominations:

Captain of the Year – Eduard Dubrov,

Coach of the Year – Igor Svetlakov,

Breakthrough of the Year – Vera Lapko,

Character of the Year – Aleksandra Sasnovich,

Doubles Player of the Year – Andrei Vasilevsky,

Trainer of the Year – Vladimir Voltchkov,

Team of the Year – Belarus’ national team,

Olympic Hopefuls – Yulia Gotovko, Yana Kolodynska, Alena Faley, Anna Kubareva, Anastasia Komar, Viktoriya Kanapatskaya, Alexander Zgirovsky, Alexander Kalinin, and Nikolai Bankov.

The 2017 Tennis Season prize holders were presented with the awards during an official ceremony at the National Olympic Committee on 18 December.